Opera double bill: The Consul / Gianni Schicchi
The Consul is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera. Its first performance was on March 1, 1950 in Philadelphia, with Patricia Neway as the lead heroine Magda Sorel and Rosemary Kuhlmann as the Secretary of the consulate. The opera is an analogy to the real-life situations of how non-American scientists and political prisoners were treated and hindered from entering the United States in the early 1950's. For The Consul, Menotti won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize in Music and also the 1950 New York Drama Critics Circle award for Best Musical. The political dissident John Sorel is on the run from the secret police. At his home, his wife Magda and his mother hide him. The police arrive and search, but cannot find him. John says that he will escape to the border, and tells Magda to apply for a visa to leave the country. This 1960 recording stars Patricia Neway and Chester Ludgin.
Gianni Schicchi is an opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, based on a story that is referred to in Dante's The Divine Comedy. It is the third of the trio of operas known as Il trittico. Its first performance was at the Metropolitan Opera in 1918. The opera is best known for the soprano aria, "O mio babbino caro" (Oh, my dear papa). A work entitled, "Commentary on the Divine Comedy by an Anonymous Florentine of the 14th Century", first published in 1866, elucidating Dante's terse references, is the actual source to the familiar plot set-up. In this, Buoso has wished to make a will, but was put off with words by his son, Simone. Once it is too late, Simone fears that Buoso may have made a will before his illness, unfavorable to Simone. Simone calls on Schicchi for counsel, and Schicchi coins the idea of the impersonation. Simone promises Schicchi he will be well rewarded, but Schicchi takes no chances, "leaving" a hefty sum to himself (though most goes to Simone), including the mule, and makes the bequests conditional on Simone's distributing the estate within fifteen days, otherwise everything shall go to charity. Dante was no doubt somewhat biased in his description, having married into the Donati family himself, marrying Gemma Donati in 1295, five years after the death of his adored Beatrice. This 1962 recording stars Fernando Corena and Renata Tebaldi. Lamberto Gardelli conducts.
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